The European Commission will present a package of measures to try to resolve the problems with the Northern Ireland Protocol in the coming weeks, according to Irish Commissioner Mairead McGuinness.

She also said the EU will try to help British Prime Minister Boris Johnson bring the COP 26 climate change conference, which the UK is hosting in Glasgow next month, to a successful conclusion.

In an interview with RTÉ News during a visit to London, the financial services commissioner said the protocol would not be renegotiated.

However, she said: “In a few weeks there will be a huge package to address these really specific concerns, and I hope we can all move forward, implement, deal with the immediacy of difficulties. “

The most important of these issues are the rules relating to the licensing and distribution of medicines in Northern Ireland.

Commissioner McGuinness said the EU would change its own rules to ease the situation.

“The European Union has no desire and will never (seek) to deprive the people of Northern Ireland of the supply of medicines, so we will solve this problem, it is essential,” she said. declared.

In the other key area of ​​contention – veterinary and food safety checks and controls, known as SPS controls – she said the EU’s own research in Northern Ireland had found support among business and political leaders for an SPS deal between the UK and the EU to ease the burdens on importers and exporters, but that was not necessarily the view in London.

Ms McGuinness said: “The voices in Northern Ireland want an agreement – an SPS as we call it – an agreement on these issues. I’m not sure that is the view in London, in the political bodies. But I would ask them to look at that because that will be a big part of the solution.

“To be very clear, we don’t see any solution emerging to open everything up to renegotiation.

“We have to solve the problems as they exist on the ground – and I would really like to stress that the effort in Brussels, led by Maros Šefcovic to find practical solutions and bring our Member States with us on this subject is immense, and I think we will do it by finding solutions. “

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The Vice-President of the European Commission, Maros Šefcovic, is responsible for solving the problems of post-Brexit relations between the EU and the UK.

He is co-chair of the bodies overseeing the UK Withdrawal Agreement (including the Northern Ireland Protocol) and bodies responsible for the development of future relations with Britain under the agreement. of trade and cooperation.

He is working on an EU response to the British government document released in July by his British counterpart David Frost, calling for sweeping changes to the protocol.

The document also said the condition in Northern Ireland justified the British invoking Article 16 of the protocol, allowing them to temporarily suspend its operation and forcing the two sides to negotiate.

With the Conservative Party conference starting in a week’s time, speculation that the British side will trigger Article 16 is starting to mount.

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During a visit to London in recent days, Commissioner McGuinness focused on areas of potential cooperation with the UK, including funding for climate change measures.

She met with British Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, to discuss digital finance, money laundering issues and climate finance – how massive changes in the way we live and work are going to be paid for, and described the meeting as “really good”.

“Despite Brexit, there are things we need to talk to and work on together. And I was really delighted with that reaction because we have COP 26 coming up in Glasgow, the European Union will be there, we are going to talk about what we are doing and we want to work with the UK to make COP 26 a success, “she said.

“Despite all our difficulties – and it has not been easy since 2016 – we have a duty to work together, despite our differences, to find solutions rather than create problems.

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“And I think when I’m here in London, I appreciate more and more that we have so much in common, and there is much more we can accomplish if we work together for these global efforts that lie ahead.

“If we think Covid or Brexit were big issues to deal with, we have no idea of ​​the immense challenge of climate change.

“Despite a sense of fragmentation, we have to find ways to work really well together. And while I was visiting London I really felt that this is also what my counterparts feel – that we have differences and that we have difficult conversations, but we have a common sense of duty to work on these great global challenges. ”

Ms McGuinness said: “The financial system – for which I am responsible at EU level – is essential for the achievement of the European Green Agreement: we need a large amount of private capital to move towards it. which is durable.

“We’ve done a lot of work that we’re happy to share with the UK and indeed all of the global partners, and for all of us to be, if you like to sing on the same hymn sheet.

“If we don’t succeed, if we don’t get this funding for this massive transition, then we are failing the next generation.”